Chocolate Swiss roll

Serves 6-8 Desserts and puddings

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Method

Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/ Gas 6. Butter the tin, line its base with baking parchment and butter this also.

Sift the cocoa into a small bowl and add the salt. Place the eggs and muscovado sugar into a large bowl and whisk for 8-10 minutes using an electric whisk, until the mixture is pale and mousselike. You can also do this in a food processor using the whisk attachment, in which case reduce the time to about 5 minutes.
Lightly fold the cocoa into the eggs and sugar in two batches. Pour the mixture into the prepared tin, smooth the surface using a palette knife and give the tin a couple of sharp taps on the worksurface to disperse any large air bubbles. Bake for 8-10 minutes until set and springy to touch.

Lay out a clean tea towel on your worksurface and sift a fine layer of icing sugar onto it. Turn the cake out onto it and carefully roll it up with the tea towel, leaving the paper in place – start at the short end, so you end up with a short fat roll. Set aside to cool for 40-60 minutes.

To make the filling, place the chocolate, sugar, vanilla extract and 2tbsp of the cream in a small bowl, set over a pan containing about 2cm of simmering water, and stir until they form a smooth paste. Set aside to cool.

Whip the remaining cream until soft peaks form, then fold in the cooled melted chocolate.

To assemble the Swiss roll, carefully unroll the sponge and peel off the paper. Spread with the chocolate cream, roll it up again and tip it onto a long serving plate, with the seam facing downwards. Dust with icing sugar and decorate with chocolate curls. Chill, uncovered, for a couple of hours before serving.